Abstract
Rules are essential for economic growth, social and environmental protection and overall well being. Unfortunately, they are often introduced as a knee-jerk reaction to a particular problem reflecting the so-called ‘regulate first’ culture in both the European Union and its Member States. Although legally-binding instruments often seem to be the most appropriate choices to achieve policy objectives, this volume argues that they might sometimes only be ‘second best’ imposing unnecessary costs on citizens and businesses and dampening innovation with significant implications for competition and economic performance. Instead an alternative policy instruments may be available and more effective. Furthermore, legally-binding acts do not entail any guarantee for full compliance. In 20 years the European Single Market has not been completed; in fact non-compliance with EU law represents a serious and alarming threat to the EU project as a whole.
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Notes
- 1.
Developing in parallel with the growth of capitalism, Weber understands the body of coherent and calculable law in terms of a ‘rational-legal authority’, which forms a precondition for modern political developments and the modern bureaucratic state. Central to the development of modern law is the formal rationalisation of law on the basis of general procedures that are applied equally and fairly to all. Durkheim (1893) argues that as society becomes more complex, the body of civil law concerned primarily with restitution and compensation grows at the expense of criminal laws and penal sanctions. Over time, law has undergone a transformation from repressive law to being an indicator of the mode of integration of a society.
- 2.
Implementation concerns ‛incorporation into national law in all Member States. Three aspects are important: Are the EU standards actually transposed in good time, on an appropriate scale, and in a correct manner?’ (Falkner et al 2005: p. 4).
- 3.
Equity, fairness, simplicity and coherence considerations have a being on the choice of policy response too, because the distribution of benefits and costs can differ between groups in society and/or geographic areas. The perceived fairness of different instruments can influence the public’s acceptance of the instrument, and hence the level of compliance. In turn, this has implications for the effectiveness and efficiency of the instrument. The degree of political accountability also has an important influence on perceptions of fairness. Those taking decision should be subject to some oversight to ensure that they implement regulations as intended. Transparency can be an important mechanism for ensuring accountability of regulators, next to existing avenues of appeal. Those subject to the regulation should feel that there is an opportunity for review by an independent body if they disagree with decisions or actions of the regulator. Therefore, equity and fairness considerations are best embodied in policy instruments which are transparent in their operation and impacts; and contain appropriate appeals mechanisms (Bovens, Curtin and ‘t Hart 2010).
- 4.
This list is not exhaustive (Offe 1975; Scharpf 1976; Hood 1983; König and Dose 1993) Market-based instruments (fiscal measures such as taxes or subsidies), for example, work by using market signals (prices) to provide an incentive to businesses and citizens to act in a way which will achieve the government’s policy objective. Maintaining the status quo is another important scenario. ‘Taking no action’ should be part of the range of delivery options for consideration, except where the Treaties require EU action which is enshrined in the legal provisions of the Treaties by the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. Subsidiarity is the principle whereby the EU does not take action, except in those areas which fall within its exclusive competence, unless such action is more effective than action taken at the national, regional or local level. According to the principle of proportionality any action should be as simple as possible to minimise the financial and administrative burdens on governments, economic operators and citizens (see also Best 2008).
- 5.
There is often some cross over between self-regulation co-regulation (Best 2008), as the Commission is sometimes quite closely involved in self-regulation. For clarity, co-regulation involves some sort of legal underpinning and can therefore be described as self-regulation with a legislative back-stop.
- 6.
See also Kohler-Koch (1998); Knill and Lenschow (2004); Scharpf (2006); Börzel (2009); Bähr (2010).
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© 2013 VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
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Kaeding, M. (2013). Implementing the Various Forms of European Policy Instruments across Member States. In: Towards an Effective European Single Market. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-19684-8_1
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